Chamber music played an important role in the creative output of W. F. Bach, even though the surviving body of his works is not large. The duets, flute sonatas and trio sonatas originated primarily in Dresden (1733–1746) during the years of his first mastery as an organist – equally under the influence of the works of his father and the leading composers of the Court of Dresden at that time – and also during the late years of his life in Berlin. Inspite of their high technical demands, these are in no way merely brilliant show pieces, rather they consistently demonstrate an extraordinarily sophisticated compositional working out of musical material which raises them far above the niveau of their time. For the first time in recent times editions of the Trio in B flat major in the original version for two violins, and the Trio in B major for violin and obbligato harpsichord are now available.
